Post-Classical Indian Traditions of Medical

Debate and Argumentation

Dominik Wujastyk
IIAS, Leiden
The Rog arogav ada of Vre svara
The Rog arogav ada, A Debate on Illness and Health, of Vre svara is a polem-
ical work on traditional Indian medicine, written in 1669. It is known from four
manuscripts: one in the collection of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Insti-
tute, Pune,
1
two on microlm in the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
in New Delhi,
2
, and one in the Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute Library
in Alwar, Rajasthan.
3
In the Rog arogav ada, Vre svara sought to engage intellectually with the
principal doctrines of classical Indian medicine . . . and to overthrow them
completely.
4
The author stated that he composed the work in 1669, and that he
was a resident of the ancient provincial town of K ayatha, near modern Udaipur
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0
License.
All translations are my own unless otherwise stated. Abbreviations and editions used: Ah.:
As
.
t
.
a ngahr
.
dayasam
.
hit a (Kum
.
t
.
e et al. 1995); Ca.: Carakasam
.
hit a (Trikamji

Ac arya 1941);
Su.: Su srutasam
.
hit a (Trikamji

Ac arya 1992); s u.: s utrasth ana; ni.: nid ana-; vi.: vim ana-;
s a.: s arra-; in.: indriya-; ci.: cikits a-; ka.: kalpa-; si.: siddhi-; ut.: uttarasth ana; HIML: A
History of Indian Medical Literature (Meulenbeld 19992002).
This research was carried out with support from the J. Gonda Foundation, Amsterdam, the
International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden and the Wellcome Trust, London (grant
# 066401/Z/01/A). I am grateful to Philipp Maas, Jan Houben, and Alessandro Graheli
for their valuable comments on a draft of this paper. An earlier version of this paper was
presented at the Symposium Ayurveda in Post-Classical and Pre-Colonial India (Leiden,
9 July 2009).
1
BORI MS 910 of 188791 (Sharma 1939: #233). A fth manuscript, in Munich (Jolly
1912: #395), is an apograph of the Pune manuscript.
2
IGNCA, microlm nos. SBL45214 and SBL45215, consulted in situ. These microlms
were made at the Sarasvati Bhavan Library in Varanasi, which did not respond to requests
for scholarly assistance.
3
Alwar MS 1674 (Peterson 1892: #1674).
4
The present conference paper is a preliminary report from a research project that will
eJournal of Indian Medicine Volume 2 (2009), 6781
68 DOMINIK WUJASTYK
in Rajasth an.
5
He was brahmin and the pupil of a teacher called Vih arl ala
Mi sra, who came from Agra.
6
Vre svara was not shy about his talents: he told
us that his teacher was surrounded by the very cream of brahmin students, but
that of all of them there was just one who was superior to all the others: him-
self! And his work, he claimed, is such that experts in all the sciences must
patiently accept the new marvel that he has produced.
7
For all his bluster and
arrogance, Vre svara indeed produced an unusual and interesting work. He
systematically took the principal theories of pathology in classical medicine,
and refuted them one by one. Thus, he dealt with humoral imbalance, diseases
caused by bad karma, accidents, secondary diseases, hereditary diseases, birth
defects, contagion, and corruptions of the humours and the body tissues.
As examples of Vre svaras style, here are his own words, in translation,
on three selected topics, the denition of disease, the causation of disease, and
nosology.
Vre svara on the denition of disease
In the following passage from the beginning of his treatise, Vre svara pointed
out a fatal contradiction in the classical theory of humoral disease using the
following reasoning. The greatest authorities dened disease as identical to
be published in due course (Wujastyk in preparation). Bibliographical details of the
manuscripts, the edited text and translation of the Rog arogav ada, and further introductory
remarks are to be found there. Cf. HIML: IIa, 328, 490.
5
The facts are more complex than I suggest above. The text of the Rog arogav ada calls
Vre svaras home Is
.
t
.
ak ayatha. An emendation might allow us to consider Is
.
t
.
ikapatha
which is mentioned as a Kashmiri toponym in the Nlamatapur an
.
a (Kumari 1968: v. 122).
On the other hand, K ayatha is an ancient town near Udaipur (David Pingree, personal
communication, with reference to Ansari and Dhavalikar (1975)).
6
The Rog arogav ada calls Vih arl als home town Argal apura; I am grateful to Prof. David
Pingree for identifying this to me as Agra (personal communication), and to Prof. S. R.
Sarma (personal communication) for drawing my attention to the fact that V an
.
arasd asa
uses this place-name in his Ardhakath anaka (Lath 2005: vv. 70, 375). V an
.
arasd asas more
common name for the city is

Agare.
7
vih arl alami srasya argal apurav asinah
.
//
gaud
.
asya sis
.
yat am
.
y at ah
.
bahavo br ahman
.
ah
.
par ah
.
tanmadhye sres
.
t
.
hat am
.
y ato ekam ev aham adbhutam
.
//
ks
.
antavyam
.
sarva s astraj naih
.
matkr
.
tam
.
kautukam
.
navam
.
// 5//
The full critical edition of the Rog arogav ada will appear in Wujastyk (in preparation).
In the present paper, I cite excerpts only when they are particularly curious or illustra-
tive. Note that I do not correct non-standard linguistic forms, including sandhi, against the
manuscripts.
The Rog arogav ada of Vre svara 69
an inequality in the humours. And yet, in other places they said that the hu-
mours may naturally exist in different quantities, without causing illness, such
as when phlegm naturally predominates at the start of the day, or after a meal.
This is not to say that one is always ill after a meal. And so the central doctrine
that humoral inequality is identical with disease must be wrong.
A refutation of the ancient remarks concerning illness and health
And so to the refutation of the ancient propositions concerning illness and
health.
Professor V agbhat
.
a is the jewel in the crown of ayurvedic authors. In book
1, chapter 1 of the V agbhat
.
atantra which he himself composed, he held
rmly to the denitions of disease and health propounded by the lineage
going back to the creator Brahm a. Thus, it is written,
Disease is an inequality of the humours. Health is the equality of the
humours.
8
An investigation concerning illness
Here, out of illness and health, rst will come an investigation concerning
illness.
Illness is an inequality, i.e., a deciency or excess, of the humours
wind, bile and phlegm.
9
If this denition of illness made by former experts in ayurveda is under-
stood mentally, then it may be observed that healthy people always have a
deciency or excess of wind, bile and phlegm during the three divisions of
day and night, but they have no illness. And everyone says,
At a particular time, they all start or grow each in its own way.
10
So this is not a denition of disease. It appears to be like the prattling of
mad people.
8
Ah. s u.1.20.
9
Ah. s u.1.20.
10
Ah. ni.2.23.
70 DOMINIK WUJASTYK
Vre svara on aetiology
Having used artful arguments to refute each of the categories of disease cau-
sation in turn, Vre svara then presented his own theory of general pathology,
which is that diseases come and go for no apparent reason, just like the rising
and setting of the stars, or the turning of a needle of a compass. Disease, he
said, is any pain of the mind, body, or sense organs, and it arises for no reason.
It is essentially random.
Origination according to the new doctrine
Now origination according to the new theory. In that case, why ask a ques-
tion about the origin of disease, since without the humours, it is a lot of
work for nothing? And the origin of an omen is stated in the Anatomy:
A ower is a sign of coming fruit, smoke of re, and rain clouds of a
downpour. In the same way, an omen is a certain sign of death.
11
Further, just as a compass, hot and cold rain, the bubbling of moving water,
under-use, wrong use, excessive use, waking up several times because of
what is brought forth at night,
12
the rising and setting of Ketu, the setting
of the asterisms, etc., are aleatory, in just the same way all diseases happen
for no reason.
13
Here, destiny is the cause of the arising of all diseases. Without that, ordi-
nary life in the world, and in all the sciences and the ancient texts, could
not proceed. That is the nal conclusion. Thus ends origination according
to the new doctrine.
Vre svara on nosology
As a nal example, here is Vre svaras new nosology, or classication of dis-
eases. Vre svaras ideas about nosology and aetiology departed completely
from the classical system of ayurveda, which was most commonly based
from the eighth century onwards on the scheme of the M adhavanid ana.
14
11
Ah. s a.5.1.
12
Possibly nocturnal emissions, as an example of random events?
13
punar yath a v atacakra stos
.
n
.
avars
.
avidhujalabudbudahnayogamithy ayog atiyog ar at ri-
sut anekav araprabodhaket udayapatananaks
.
atrapatan a dy ah
.
akasm ad bhavanti tathaiva
sarve rog ah
.
akasm at sam
.
bhavanti//
14
Cf. HIML: IIa, 61 ff..
The Rog arogav ada of Vre svara 71
The kinds of diseases
And now the kinds of diseases. Those diseases are threefold: they arise
from
1. a certain amount of pain in mind, body, and senses;
2. they arise from a lot of pain in the mind, body, and senses;
3. they arise from a huge amount of pain in the mind, body, and senses.
Furthermore, they are threefold:
1. that arising from a certain amount of pain in mind, body, and senses
is treatable;
2. that arising from a lot of pain in mind, body, and senses is hard to
treat;
3. that arising from a huge amount of pain in mind, body, and senses is
impossible to treat.
Further, these diseases are threefold:
1. some are perpetual,
2. some are born of the seasons, and
3. some are born of the year-cycles.
In that connection, the perpetual diseases are ninefold: there are three
according to whether they conform to the beginning, middle, or end of
the day, or to phlegm, bile, and wind. Thus, there are three according to
whether they arise at the beginning, middle, or end of the night. Thus,
there are three according to whether they arise at the start, middle, or end
of a meal. Thus, there are nine kinds of perpetual disease.
Furthermore, the diseases born of the seasons are also ninefold. Some arise
on springtime, some in the rainy season, and some in autumn. These are
the seasonal diseases.
Now, the diseases caused by the year-cycle are said to be twofold.
15
During
the northern cycle they are characterised as draining ones strength. During
the southern cycle they are characterised as building up ones strength.
These are the diseases caused by the year-cycle.
Furthermore, all diseases are threefold:
1. perpetual,
2. sporadic, and
3. perpetualsporadic.
15
On the concept of the year-cycles, or ayanas, see Wujastyk 2003: 197 f. and Wujastyk 2004.
72 DOMINIK WUJASTYK
Furthermore, they are all threefold:
1. distressing,
2. non-distressing, and
3. distressingnon-distressing.
Examples of these will be stated in order.
Thus, those which occur during the day and night, with an appearance
phlegm etc., and which are characterised by remaining for only a short
time, are perpetual and non-distressing. Those which arise infrequently,
such as fever etc., and are characterised by remaining for a long time, are
sporadic and distressing. Those which are repeatedly characterised by aris-
ing, duration, and destruction, and have pain and trembling of the limbs
etc., are permanentsporadic and distressing as well as non-distressing.
Furthermore, they are all twofold:
1. those produced internally and
2. those produced externally.
In that connection, sequentially, those which arise fromthe body etc., when
it is in the womb, are internally produced. Those are produced in the body
etc., immediately after birth, and so they arise in all people, young, old, and
juvenile. Furthermore, they affect some people, they do not affect some
people, they affect some people just a little, and they cause some people to
die. That is enough longwindedness.
Vre svaras argumentation
As the above passage demonstrates, Vre svaras arguments were not always
perfectly clear, although this may sometimes be due to the poor transmission
of the text in the manuscripts. Furthermore, some of Vre svaras arguments are
already anticipated in the much older classical tradition, but he seemed un-
aware of this. For example, as we have seen, Vre svara opened his argument
by stating that the usual denition of disease, namely an inequality of the hu-
mours, is incoherent because, as several texts assert, the humours are also said
to be naturally unequal at different times of day and season without implying
that the patient is therefore diseased. However, in the Carakasam
.
hit a (vi.6.13),
this very objection was anticipated and discussed:
On that point, some people state the following:
Nobody who has equal wind, bile and phlegm exists, because people
partake of foods that are unequal. And so it is the case that some are of
The Rog arogav ada of Vre svara 73
a windy constitution, some of a bilious constitution, and some again of a
phlegmatic constitution.
But that is not correct.
Why not?
Physicians maintain that a healthy person is someone having equal
wind, bile and phlegm. And since the natural constitution is health, and
physicians efforts are directed towards health, that [constitution] is the
desired type. Therefore people with equal wind, bile and phlegm do exist,
and those with a windy constitution, a bilious constitution, or a phlegmatic
constitution do not exist.
People are spoken of as having a humoral constitution according to the
preponderance of this or that humour. But that does not mean that when
the humours are corrupted, a proper constitutional condition comes into
existence. So these are not constitutions. People who are windy, bilious or
phlegmatic do exist,
16
but such people are considered to be in an unnatural
constitutional condition.
17
Vre svara seems to have been unaware of this argument from the Carakasam
.
-
hit a, which reinforces the idea that in spite of his claim at the start of the
Rog arogav ada to be a physician, he was rst of all a student of ny aya and not
a fully-trained scholar of physic.
Jayanta Bhat
.
t
.
a (. 870)
In his general approach and type of argumentation, Vre svara echoes the ar-
guments against medical empiricism advanced by the ninth-century Kashmiri
philosopher Jayanta Bhat
.
t
.
a in his Ny ayama njar. Perhaps Vre svaras teacher,
16
. . . windy, bilious or phlegmatic, translates v atal ah
.
pittal ah
.
kaphal a s ca; these are adjec-
tival derivatives with the grammatical sufx -la specically characterizing people having
these humoral characteristics. Cf. P an
.
ini 5.2.97 sidhm adibhya s ca.
17
Ca.vi.6.13 (Trikamji

Ac arya 1941: 255): tatra kecid ahuh
.
na samav atapitta sles
.
m an
.
o
jantavah
.
santi, vis
.
am ah aropayogitv an manus
.
y an
.
am
.
; tasm ac ca v ataprakr
.
tayah
.
kecit,
kecit pittaprakr
.
tayah
.
, kecit punah
.
sles
.
maprakr
.
tayo bhavantti/ tac c anupapannam, kasm at
k aran
.
at? samav atapitta sles
.
m an
.
am
.
hy arogam icchanti bhis
.
ajah
.
, yatah
.
prakr
.
ti s c arogyam,
arogy arth a ca bhes
.
ajapravr
.
ttih
.
, s a ces
.
t
.
ar up a, tasm at santi samav atapitta sles
.
m an
.
ah
.
; na
khalu santi v ataprakr
.
tayah
.
pittaprakr
.
tayah
.
sles
.
maprakr
.
tayo v a/ tasya tasya kila dos
.
asy a-
dhiky at s a s a dos
.
aprakr
.
tir ucyate manus
.
y an
.
am
.
, na ca vikr
.
tes
.
u dos
.
es
.
u prakr
.
tisthatvam
upapadyate, tasm an nait ah
.
prakr
.
tayah
.
santi; santi tu khalu v atal ah
.
pittal ah
.
sles
.
mal a s ca,
aprakr
.
tisth as tu te j ney ah
.
// 13 //. I am grateful to Dagmar Wujastyk for drawing my atten-
tion to this passage.
74 DOMINIK WUJASTYK
Vih arl al Mi sra, steered him towards such forms of reasoning, as part of a
rounded education in ny aya? The Ny ayas utra itself, after all, raises the case
of ayurveda as an example of a science that is apparently empirical but is in
reality based on authoritative tradition.
18
Like Vre svara, Jayanta cited verses
that propose that medical theory is incoherent and self-contradictory.
Humanity is innite and the multitude of diseases is limitless. It is im-
possible to count the various combinations of the many qualities, savours,
substances and conditions. And transformation is unpredictable. So how
can a man cross to the far shore of medicine even in a hundred thousand
yugas?
One and the same substance may pacify one bodily element, but in another
combination it may then iname that very same one. The effectiveness of
a substance in one man may not be the same in another man. Even hartak
may not bring about a purge when someone has pallid skin disease due to
increased wind.
In autumn, curds cause a fever in someone with increased bile. The same
thing eaten during the rainy season destroys fever in someone in a different
condition.
19
To paraphrase Jayanta in Humean terms, he was asserting that inductive cer-
tainty was never possible because of the endless instances of medical efcacy
that could never be veried in practice. In Humes words, even after the ob-
servation of the frequent constant conjunction of objects, we have no reason to
draw any inference concerning any object beyond those of which we have had
experience.
20
18
See note 22 below.
19
Ny ayama njar ahnika 4 (Varad ac arya 1969: 606 (cf. Gaurn atha

S astr 1982: v. 1, 348 f.)):
janonantas t avan niravadhir iha vy adhinivahah
.
na sam
.
khy atum
.
saky a bahugun
.
arasadravyagatayah
.
/
vicitr ah
.
sam
.
yog ah
.
parin
.
atir ap urveti ca kutah
.
cikits ay ah
.
p aram
.
tarati yugalaks
.
air api narah
.
// 56 //
yad eva dravyam ekasya dh ator bhavati s antaye/
yog antar at tad ev asya punah
.
kop aya kalpate// 57 //
y a dravya saktir ekatra pum
.
si n asau nar antare/
hartaky api nodbh utav atakus
.
t
.
he virecyate// 58 //
sarady udriktapittasya jvar aya dadhi kalpate/
tad eva bhuktam
.
vars
.
asu jvaram
.
hanti da s antare// 59 //
20
Humes classic statement on inductive knowledge is found at Hume 1739: sect. xii Of the
probability of causes, p. 187.
The Rog arogav ada of Vre svara 75
Jayanta Bhat
.
t
.
a also entered into an interesting discussion of ayurveda of
his own.
21
The context of Jayantas discussion was the problem of the author-
itativeness of the Veda.
22
Jayanta was contributing to a discussion with a long
history within Ny aya thought going right back to Ny ayas utra and V acaspatis
bh as
.
ya.
23
The Ny ayas utra and V acaspati asserted that the Vedas were valid
because, like medicine, they were uttered by authoritative persons. The con-
cept of authoritativeness or trust was explored, but the basic assumption that
medical science is true because of the trustworthiness of its promulgators
rather than for empirical reasons was not questioned. This is the issue that
Jayanta interestingly picked up for further exploration.
Jayanta defended the standard Naiy ayika view that the Vedas are true
because they were uttered by a trustworthy person, namely God. The
Mm am
.
sakas, Jayanta said, object to this assertion on the grounds that there
is no way to tell that this is the case. The Vedas are not accompanied by any
corroborative facts that would allow us to infer the existence of a trustworthy
author. Therefore, Mm am
.
sakas reject the Gods authorship argument.
Jayanta then stated the Naiy ayika rejoinder. It is based on two proofs. First,
he had previously established that sound is not eternal, and that every arrange-
ment of letters presupposes an author. He had also proven, to his own satisfac-
tion, that there is a God. And in a later passage he would set out arguments to
show that the Vedas contain nothing that is contradicted by perception. Thus,
the most direct inference is that the Vedas are true and uttered by God. Jayanta
further asserted that his arguments were based not on inference, but on direct
perception.
24
And this is where Jayanta used the example of ayurveda. The is-
sue that exercised himwas the means of cognition that lead to the knowledge of
disease and medicine. Jayanta noted that the medical texts present themselves
as essentially pragmatic and empirical works, and people generally think of
21
Ny ayama njar, adhy aya 4 (Varad ac arya 1969: 604 ff. (cf. Taila nga 1895: 247 ff., Gaur-
n atha

S astr 1982: v. 1, 347:11 )). Cf. Dasgupta 1969: v. 2, p.399, n. 1. This discussion
was referred to by Halbfass (1992b: 200, fn. 173), who cited the same passages in Jayantas
Ny ayama njar (

Sukla 1971: 226 ff.) in which Jayanta argued against the attempt to estab-
lish the authority of the medical tradition in a purely empirical manner, i.e., based upon
the concurrent testimony of sense-perception etc. (pratyaks
.
adisam
.
v ada) and to ascer-
tain the causes and cures of diseases by means of positive and negative concomitance
(anvayavyatireka) alone.
22
Varad ac arya 1969: 603 ff. (cf. Gaurn atha

S astr 1982: v. 1, 346:13). Cf. Bhattacharyya
1978: 513 ff.
23
NS 2.1.68 (Taranatha and Amarendramohan 1985: 565, cf. (Taila nga 1896: 98)): mantr a-
yurvedapr am an
.
yavac ca tatpr am an
.
yam aptapr am an
.
y at. Tr. Jha 1939: 1914. See now the
discussion of Freschi and Graheli 2005: 3035.
24
Varad ac arya 1969: 604 (cf. Gaurn atha

S astr 1982: v. 1, 347:8). Cf. Bhattacharyya
1978: 515.
76 DOMINIK WUJASTYK
them in that way. However, he wanted to prove that empirical observation is
not their basis. He understood that his view was counter-intuitive, but he pre-
sented a strong argument for discarding the primacy of perception. Jayanta
referred to the logical method of positive and negative concomitance, which
in the medical context could be equated with empirical evaluation.
25
Jayanta
pointed out that this empirical method was of necessity partial, given the vir-
tually innite number of medicines and diseases, and that it was therefore an
inadequate basis for the establishment of a science.
Until today, we have been able to apply the method of positive and nega-
tive concomitance up to a certain extent. To that extent through those two
[methods] there is progress there because of the hypothetical authoritative-
ness that comes from conrmation of a portion. But to the extent they are
applied, those two [methods] cannot constitute the basis of the science. Be-
cause of the possibility that we and everyone else might promulgate such
sciences.
26
This statement is very close to the argument against veriability famously as-
sociated with the philosopher Karl Popper.
27
Jayanta appears to have recog-
nised the limitation of the inductive method in science, that the prolonged ac-
cumulation of conrmatory data can provide only partial or contingent validity
for any proposition, however convincing it appears. The proposition still only
has the appearance of authoritativeness, pr am an
.
yakalpana.
Instead, Jayanta argued that it was the omniscience of Caraka that made
it possible for him to write the Carakasam
.
hit a. Caraka did not discover the
science from inductive methods, nor did he receive it from previous tradition.
25
The term anvayavyatireka, positive and negative concomitance, was decisively claried by
Cardona (19671968) and Halbfass (1992a: 16282). It is the method of systematically
studying phenomena that always co-occur (medicine X always cures disease Y), and those
that are always mutually exclusive (medicine Xnever cures disease Y). Aweak comparison
could be made with the method of trial and error.
26
Varad ac arya 1969: v. 1, 607 (cf. Gaurn atha

S astr 1982: v. 1, 349:17): adyatve y avant av
anvayavyatirekau vayam upalabdhum
.
saknumas t avadbhy am
.
t abhy am ekade sasam
.
v ad at
pr am an
.
yakalpan at tatra pravarttanam
.
na tu tau t avantau s astrasya m ulam
.
bhavi-
tum arhatah
.
, sarvair asmad adibhis t adr
.
sa s astrapran
.
ayanaprasa ng at/. Cf. Bhattacharyya
1978: 519.
27
Popper 1959: esp. ch. 1 and appendix *vii.
The Rog arogav ada of Vre svara 77
Other debate works
Amongst physicians, works specically on logic, debate or polemics, or
demonstrating the uses of these methods, were rare, though not unknown. In
about AD800, the Keralan author Nlamegha wrote the Tantrayuktivic ara.
28
This treatise examined thirty-six tantrayuktis or technical rules that are
intended to help with the interpretation of medical treatises. They are not
debating terms as such, but nevertheless are related to solving hermeneutical
difculties. These interpretative rules are known from very early times,
occurring in the Carakasam
.
hit a, the Su srutasam
.
hit a, the Artha s astra, the
Vis
.
n
.
udharmottarapur an
.
a and the As
.
t
.
a ngasam
.
graha. The last text does, in
fact, relate the tantrayuktis directly to debate, asserting that they help one to
refute the statements employed by those who have untrue arguments.
29
A lost attack on the As
.
t
.
a ngahr
.
dayasam
.
hit a by one Sauravidy adhara is
known to us only through the refutations of Naraharibhat
.
t
.
a recorded in his
V agbhat
.
akhan
.
d
.
anaman
.
d
.
ana.
30
Naraharibhat
.
t
.
a lived some time after the mid-
thirteenth century. Meulenbeld suggested that Narahari may in fact have been
recording in writing a public verbal debate that he had with Sauravidy adhara.
Physicians self-perception regarding logic
In fairness to the older medical tradition, physicians did not necessarily see
themselves as primarily concerned with the internal logic of their system. The
commentator Cakrap an
.
idatta (11th century, Bengal), for example, noted that
ayurveda is not centrally concerned with consistency:
This discipline works cooperatively with all the others. Thus, a conicting
purport expressed according to the divisions of the philosophical systems
such as Vai ses
.
ika, S am
.
khya and others that are not in conict with ayur-
veda, does not bring about inconsistency. . . .
31
Cakrap an
.
idatta went on to point out that although Caraka had said there were
ve senses, Vai ses
.
ika includes mind as a sixth, and in fact elsewhere Caraka
28
HIML: IIa, 1423.
29
As.utt.50.156cd (

At
.
havale 1980: 961): asadv adiprayukt an am
.
v aky an am
.
pratis
.
edhak ah
.
.
30
HIML: Ia, 676 f.. The author was sometimes called Nr
.
sim
.
hakavi.
31
Commentary on Ca.s u.8.3 (Trikamji

Ac arya 1941: 55): yatah
.
sarvap aris
.
adam [-p ars
.
a-
dam?] idam
.
s astram
.
, ten ayurved aviruddhavai ses
.
ikas am
.
khy adidar sanabhedena virudd a-
rtho bhidhyam ano na p urv aparavirodham avahatty arthah
.
/ Mentioned by Stcherbatsky
(193032: 1.171).
78 DOMINIK WUJASTYK
himself also talked of six senses. It may appear that conicting statements are
made, Cakrap an
.
idatta was saying, but nevertheless ayurveda is not fundamen-
tally in conict with systems like Vai ses
.
ika and S am
.
khya. Issues can be ironed
out. Vre svara, however, was not content with such a relaxed view about con-
sistency, and built his arguments on the basis of non-contradiction.
Conclusion
The style and argumentation of the Rog arogav ada strike the reader as irasci-
ble and intemperate; it may even be that the work was a prank, although car-
ried through with conviction. But Intellectual life is rst of all disagreement
(Collins 1998: 1) and Vre svara, disagreeing with almost every basic tenet of
classical medicine, certainly offered an intellectual contribution to the history
of medical thought in early modern India. Vre svara attempted to mount a se-
rious challenge to the foundational doctrines of classical medicine. His chal-
lenge may appear quixotic, but it was nevertheless offered in a spirit of intel-
lectual rigour and debate which speaks of an original if impulsive mind. We do
not know Vre svaras age at the time he composed his work, but the fact that
he spoke of himself as rst amongst the students of his teacher suggests that he
may have been a young man. Indeed, he may have been an angry young man,
since he is not content merely to refute the doctrines of his elders, including
V agbhat
.
a; he repeated calls their opinions the babbling of lunatics:
32
Therefore, this is not a denition of disease; it looks like the babbling of
lunatics.
33
It is a noticeable feature of the Rog arogav ada that Vre svara almost exclusively
cites from the beginnings of his ayurvedic sources, and usually from the rst
chapter. This suggests that he was in fact not very well-read in ayurveda, and
that he drew his materials for this treatise from just the most easily-accessible
and introductory statements of ayurvedic theory. Using the special debate-
terminology of the Carakasam
.
hit a, this impugning of Vre svaras knowledge
of ayurveda would be called a sam
.
sayasama-ahetu, that is a challenge to ba-
sic reasons for his arguments on the grounds of doubting their basis. The
Carakasam
.
hit a gives the following apt example of sam
.
sayasama-ahetu:
32
Or even, of drunkards.
33
tasm ad idam
.
rogalaks
.
an
.
am
.
na bhavati, mattapralapitam iv avabh asate//
The Rog arogav ada of Vre svara 79
A certain person quotes a bit of ayurveda. Another person, being in doubt
about whether he is a doctor or not, may say, he claims to be a physician
because he quotes a bit of ayurveda. But he does not specify a reason for
eliminating doubt. And this is a non-reason (ahetu), since something that
is a reason for doubt cannot also be a reason for eliminating doubt.
34
In short, physicians well-versed in the dialectical tradition of the Carakasam
.
-
hit a might well consider that Vre svara was not himself a qualied physician
or medical philosopher.
The importance of the Rog arogav ada lies in its polemical and dialectical
nature, and in the date and motives of its composition. Why would an author
in late seventeenth century Agra write a treatise that roundly insults the great
ac aryas of the ayurvedic tradition, and attempts to demolish the fundamental
tenets of scientic medicine and replace them with a doctrine of pure chance?
These are questions that we cannot answer conclusively. What Vre svaras
polemical tract does demonstrate, however, is that lively debate on Sanskrit
medical topics appears still to have been alive in seventeenth century India.
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